Memory access control circuitry

A method of operating an apparatus comprising processing circuitry and memory access control circuitry, the method comprising:

• issuing, by the processing circuitry, a memory access request specifying a target address;
• controlling handling of the memory access request based on at least one memory access control attribute associated with a corresponding region of address space including the target address;
• storing, in attribute storage circuitry comprised in the memory access control circuitry, a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries identifying a corresponding region of address space and information indicating at least one corresponding memory access control attribute for the corresponding region of address space;
• in response to receipt, by the memory access control circuitry, of the memory access request to perform an attribute lookup in the attribute storage circuitry for the target address to identify the at least one memory access control attribute associated with the corresponding region of address space comprising the target address,
• wherein the processing circuitry comprises current region identifying information indicative of a current region of address space and at least one current memory access control attribute associated with the current region of address space;
• and
• determining, by the processing circuitry, whether the target address is comprised in the current region of address space and, when the target address is comprised in the current region of address space, indicating the at least one current memory access control attribute to the memory access control circuitry, and triggering the memory access control circuitry to omit performing the attribute lookup,
• wherein the current region identifying information is suitable for storing information indicative of a current region of address space having a size greater than a smallest addressable unit of the address space.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable code for fabrication of an apparatus comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to issue a memory access request specifying a target address;
• and
• memory access control circuitry configured to control handling of the memory access request based on at least one memory access control attribute associated with a corresponding region of address space including the target address, the memory access control circuitry comprising attribute storage circuitry configured to store a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries identifying a corresponding region of address space and information indicating at least one corresponding memory access control attribute for the corresponding region of address space,
• wherein:
• the memory access control circuitry is responsive to receipt of the memory access request to perform an attribute lookup in the attribute storage circuitry for the target address to identify the at least one memory access control attribute associated with the corresponding region of address space comprising the target address;
• the processing circuitry comprises current region identifying information indicative of a current region of address space and at least one current memory access control attribute associated with the current region of address space;
• the processing circuitry is configured to determine whether the target address is comprised in the current region of address space and, when the target address is comprised in the current region of address space, to indicate the at least one current memory access control attribute to the memory access control circuitry, and to trigger the memory access control circuitry to omit performing the attribute lookup;
• and
• the current region identifying information is suitable for storing information indicative of a current region of address space having a size greater than a smallest addressable unit of the address space.